Dear Lucas (6 years and 4 months,)

It's been a great fall so far. We had fun decorating the yard for Halloween and for the first time I didn't have to carve the pumpkin! This year you and your Dad scooped out all of the guts and gave it a funny face.

Right now you are very into Harry Potter so your Halloween costume was an easy pick. I had fun collecting the pieces to pull it all together. I even made you a broom out of sticks and found you a stuffed owl for Hedwig. It's been a blast falling in love with all things Harry Potter with you. I can't wait until you are old enough to finish the rest of the books. We stopped reading them together once they got a little dark and more mature.

We went trick-or-treating with your friend Preston and his sister Sierra. It has become a sort of tradition. I think this is the fourth year in a row we've all gone together. As always you guys had a blast! You got so much candy but the funniest treat was a Kraft cheese single. You thought it was hilarious.

I had to go to work and you had school the next day so we didn't stay out trick-or-treating long but that didn't stop you on wracking up the candy. You went through the candy and picked a few pieces and left the rest out for the Sugar Fairy who switched it out for a Lego board game.

This month your school had its very first awards day of the year. You made high honor roll and it couldn't be prouder. When you walked up front to get your certificate you saw me sitting there in the front row and your face lit up. I live for moments like that.

Over Veteran's Day weekend we planned to take care of my flight benefits for the first time and head to California to see our family. Flying standby was certainly a learning experience and you were a trouper. We spent a lot of time just sitting and waiting and not getting on planes. I think you took it a lot better than most adults would! I can't wait to go on more adventures with you!

While we were in California I went to our cousin Davia's wedding and you hung out with our other cousins. You had a blast playing with Ben and Ean. I don't think you even missed me while I was gone.

One of the coolest things we did while we were in California was go to the beach at Sunset. It wasn't planned it just happened that way. It was so pretty and you could care less that it was cold and windy. You still ran in and out of the waves and dug in the sand.

Getting back home to Georgia was another adventure. We ended up spending the night in the airport in Atlanta. When we got to Savannah I took you straight to school. You were really great at catching up on your homework. You even had to do your first report in a short amount of time. You could choose any animal and your of course decided to learn about Snowy Owls (the same kind of Owl as Harry Potter's Hedwig.) I can't believe you are old enough to write research papers!

One of my favorite fall traditions is taking you to the Children's Book Festival at Forsyth Park. In the years past you wanted your picture taken with the book characters like Clifford, or Pooh but you had no interest this year. Instead you wanted to sit and hear Peter Catalanotto read one of his books and talk about how he ended up writing and illustrating children's books. He was very inspirational and talked about how all kids are artists and that you should just keep writing down your stories and drawing. You were enthralled by everything he was saying and you slowly made your way up to the front of the group. Ever since you've been making little books and writing stories.

Over Thanksgiving break we finally accomplished another first when I took you to play miniature golf. You really enjoyed it. I don't know why we haven't been sooner. The place is right near our house.

For Thanksgiving your Uncle Ted wanted to take us all to his favorite restaurant Maggiano's. We all loaded up and headed down to Jacksonville. It was so much fun. We all sat at two tables pushed together and passed four courses of food around the table. It was nice to try something different as a family. I'm so glad we took a family picture before we left.

Before we left we also made sure to get a picture of all the cousins together now that Teddie is here. I am sure it is the first of many to come of the seven of you. Good news, Joseph and Joshua won't be moving after all. I'm so happy that you get to grow up together!

The Day after Thanksgiving we headed to Tybee Island for some fun at the beach. Ever since we went in California you had been begging to go back to the beach here. We built a "Sandman" and tried to get a good picture for our Christmas card. I can't wait to experience another Christmas with you! Every year it just gets better and better!

I love you to the moon and back,

Mommy

Trick-or-Treating

My knight in shining armor.


Lucas and Steven

Practice run with uncle Michael who stayed at our house to hand out candy.

Lucas with Preston the Pirate

Traveling Teddy

Every weekend Traveling Teddy goes home with a different kid in Lucas' class. On Monday Traveling Teddy returns to school with pictures and a story to share with the class about his weekend. This weekend was Lucas' turn.

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

Dear Lucas (5 years 2 months)

After a few technical difficulties (meaning my laptop died last week and now your Dad and I are sharing a computer) I am finally able to sit down and write to you. It is finally starting to turn cooler and I absolutely love this time of year. It's so much fun being a Mom around fall. You are excited about Halloween (and no for the 5th time today it is NOT next week) You want to be Knight in shining armor... which really surprised me because of your current obsession with Super Heroes. Then again, you dress like a super hero every day so I guess being a Knight will be exciting because it is something new. Thank goodness the Dollar store is selling plastic knight armor. I have your costume put up in mt closet. Without fail if you wake up before me you sneak and get it out. Then when I wake up, you always make a sad puppy dog face and say, "Mommy, pwease foegive me"

It's nice to be in a set schedule again. Most mornings you ride the bus to school and we always leave the house about 8:00am and walk to the end of the street. Some mornings you will ask me to drive you and I usually give in and secretly I love taking you. You always ride the bus home though and you get off running towards me with a big smile. Well, unless you got in trouble at school, then you get off the bus slowly and looking down at the ground, but luckily those days are few and far between. You seem to REALLY love kindergarten and you are learning so much. Your teacher has recommended you for speech therapy because you don't say your "L" and "R" the right way yet. I guess by now you should be able to say them clearly, but you are the youngest one in your class.

When you get home, the first thing you do is sit down and do your homework. On Mondays you come home with a couple worksheets. Usually they are just practice for writing a letter or number. They aren't due until Friday. Sometimes you do them all at once, sometimes you do one a day, it just depends on your mood. Your handwriting is getting so neat so fast and you are teaching me all these tricks for writing letters... (like j has a "money tail")

One of the reasons you are so well behaved at school is because you know if you aren't then you won't get to go to Lowe's on Saturdays. Man whoever thought of the free kid clinics is a genius. Talk about brand loyalty. Anytime you see a sign or Logo for Lowe's you get so excited. I love watching you and your Dad build things together.

You are so inquisitive right now. You want to know how things work and how words are spelled. You even want to know what would happen in the strangest of situations. Out of nowhere you will ask something random like "what would happen if I turned into a dog" or "what would happen if a dragon swooped down and ate the car." Those aren't actually "what would happens" from you but that is only because you ask so many in a day that I can't keep up with them.

I really love our neighborhood. It is such a safe place to walk and for you to play. The weather has been so nice that we walk the dogs quite a bit. I don't think Jadie has gone on as many walks in her whole entire life as she has in this last month. Jadie and Nicey like when you walk them because you like to run and so do they. In fact you like to run so much you usually run in front of me all the way to the bus stop. If you aren't too tired in the afternoons you'll also run home.

Sweet Pea, I love you to infinity and beyond,
Mom

Dear Lucas (5 years and 1 month old),

Your letter is a few days late this month because I wanted to include your first day of Kindergarten. The last few weeks I would get a little sad when I thought about you being older. One day I think you could tell I was having one of those moments and you said, "Don't worry Mommy. Remember the book you read to me last year when I was scared about going to school. I will give you a kissing hand and whenever you miss me you can just touch it to your cheek."

I can't believe how fast your first summer off from school flew by us. You loved anything that involved water; the beach, swimming at Grandma & Grandpa's, or splashing around in the fountains downtown. We hit up the new splash fountain in Forsyth Park a few times and it is one of my favorite places to go with you. We live pretty close by and free parking is easy to find. Also, I love that it is a place that I went as a kid and your Dad and I also went there on our first date.

This summer you moved even further up the cousin totem poll when your Aunt Lori and Uncle Tony had their second child. You weren't as excited about Joshua being born as you were about Joshua. You acted like you were thinking "eh, he's cute and all, but he's a baby. Call me in a few years when he can kick a ball or push a train." When Joseph was born you expected him to come out ready to play now I guess you have more reasonable expectations for babies.

You have officially become a cool older cousin. The way that you look up to Shane and Colby is the way that Joseph looks up to you. When Lori and Tony were all busy with labor and having Joshua, Joseph hung out with us for 24 hours. He adored you. Everything you did he wanted to do. Every toy you played with he wanted to hold. You were AMAZING with him. Sometimes when you are playing with your friends you don't want to share but you were so great at looking after him. He even bunked with you and the two of you slept together all night long. I hope it is your first of many more cousin overnights.

David and Gabe are still your best friends. If you go a whole day without seeing them then you go through withdrawals and beg for them to come over or you to go to their house. Luckily they live just a few blocks from us. They haven't been over as much as they usually are since their Mom has been off from work recovering from surgery but you three still got together all summer long. On the last day of summer break there was a heavy rain storm and our power was knocked out. We headed over to their house and your Dad and I played Uno with the adults while you kids splashed around in the giant "lake" in the street.

Monday was your first day of school and you were ready to go the moment you woke up. I jumped in the shower while you were sleeping and when I got out I found you fully dressed with your backpack on your back. Since you are crazy about super heroes lately I got you a batman underoos shirt to wear under your uniform. You loved having a "secret identity" that nobody else at school would know about. You could not wait to ride the bus and didn't want me to take you but you did agree that I could meet you at your school and walk you to your class.

I was standing right there when you stepped off the bus and you were so excited. You loved riding the bus and I guess my carpool duties are over for the next few years (at least when it comes to school.)

You walked right into your classroom like you owned the place and hung up your backpack and sat down in front of a can of blue playdoh. You could care less that I was still there. I kept telling you I was about to leave and you would just say "okay mom, see you later" I was able to sneak a kiss and you did give me a kissing hand and you didn't even notice that I left. You are such a big kid! I am excited that you have a friend from your prek class from last year with you and now according to you Heather is your best friend at school.

The first thing you do when you get home from school everyday is run in the house and start stripping your clothes off. Then you find your Captain America costume and you spend the rest of the night dressed up. Sometimes you even have me and your Dad say lines that you tell us too. Your Dad is usually the villain and I am usually the damsel in distress that calls out for help. You don't go back to being Lucas until it is time for bath, story time and a few minutes of snuggle time before bed.

Captain America, I love you to the moon and back,

Mom

Guess He Has Always Been Super

September 2007

He Sure is Super

If Lucas is at home then he is in a Super Hero costume... and sometimes when we are out and about he is still wearing a super hero costume. (Although if you refer to him as wearing a costume he will correct you and say "I am the real Batman" or "I am the real Captain America") I guess Super Heroes are the new "Thomas the Tank Engine."

In a week Lucas will start school and have to start wearing a uniform again so to avoid any issue with that we sat down with him and had a talk. When we reminded him about his school uniforms he looked at us and said, "that's okay Mom, you can just keep it in your purse and that way when I need to fight a villain I'll have it ready" He has also started referring to his Dad as being his butler.... I guess if Batman has Alfred he figures he has his Dad.

Captain America says DON'T Forget to Vote

Tomorrow is the Primary Runoff election in Georgia so don't forget to head to the polls. Please don't use the excuse that you don't know who is running. Take a few minutes to educate yourself and see who is on the ballot.

Parades, Valentines, and Snow

Friday was quite an exciting day for Lucas. It was Georgia Day and the original plan was for the students to parade around the local neighborhood but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead the students paraded around the school.

It was FREEZING outside so most of the kids wore their coats and jackets over their costumes.

Lucas' class

After the parade it was time to pass out their Valentines. The kids lined up and took turns dropping Valentines into each classmate's bag.

Then Friday night it actually snowed! We just happened to be watching Lucas' friends that night. When the snow started to stick I took the boys outside to play and they had a snowball fight.